Luna 2

Key facts

Mission & specifications

Mission

Luna 2 was the Soviet probe that became the first human-made object to reach another world. Launched on 12 September 1959 atop a converted R-7 rocket, it flew a direct, roughly 34-hour trajectory to the Moon, with no propulsion of its own for course corrections. It had no camera; its purpose was to strike the Moon and to study space along the way. En route, its ion traps detected the solar wind — the stream of charged particles flowing from the Sun — and the probe confirmed that the Moon has no detectable magnetic field or radiation belt of its own. To prove it had reached its target, the spacecraft released a bright cloud of sodium gas that could be photographed from Earth. On 14 September 1959 Luna 2 crashed into the surface east of Mare Imbrium, between the craters Aristillus, Archimedes and Autolycus, scattering two spherical pennants engraved with the Soviet coat of arms. Coming only weeks before the Soviets photographed the Moon's hidden far side, the impact was a milestone of the early Space Race and opened the age of lunar exploration that Apollo and the robotic landers would carry forward.

1. 1959Launch toward the MoonLaunch

   A modified R-7 rocket sends Luna 2 on a direct, roughly 34-hour trajectory to the Moon.

2. 1959Solar wind detected in transitMilestone

   Ion traps sample the stream of particles from the Sun; no lunar magnetic field is found.

3. 1959Sodium cloud releasedMilestone

   A bright gas cloud is dispersed so the probe can be tracked optically from Earth.

4. 1959Impact on the MoonImpactor

   First human-made object to reach another world, striking east of Mare Imbrium.

Images

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